OCTOBER 14, 2005

Bridgestone pays Ford $240m

The Bridgestone company has agreed to pay the Ford Motor Company $240m to end the five-year dispute between the two firms relating to tyre failures on Ford sport utility vehicles, which resulted in the deaths of 271 people in accidents caused when the tyres fitted to Ford SUV's failed. Ford does not use tyres made by Firestone, Bridgestone's US division but does employ Bridgestone products on some of its vehicles in Europe and Asia. The problem had an important effect on F1 because it removed Jac Nasser from his role as Ford's chief executive and weakened the resolve of the company to be successful in F1. The company drifted in F1 after Nasser departed and finally withdrew at the end of last year, selling the Jaguar team to Red Bull